What youthful pursuits/passions do you wish you still engaged in?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Reading Mangetout’s thread about his daughter’s idea for a children’s book reminded me of something I did a lot as a child- write.

I, too, had an active imagination and often expressed it in short stories and poems. My local newspaper had a weekly section where they’d publish children’s stories, poetry, and art. I regularly wrote and submitted stories, and every time they were accepted. I was published probably a half a dozen times before I was 12.

In middle school, there was a grade-wide contest to write and illustrate a children’s book, and the 2 winners got a day off from school to attend a Young Author’s Conference at the local university listening to authors speak and participating in a number of writing workshops.

After some horrible angst-ridden adolescent poetry and a creative writing class in high school, I haven’t done much writing of the non-scholarly kind.

The thing is, I know I’m a great writer, my casual style when posting on the Dope notwithstanding. Not to sound conceited, but writing is one of the one or two things (maybe actually the only thing) I know I’m good at. I’ve got a novel or two in me. I just can’t seem to dedicate myself like I did when I was younger.

And I enjoy writing, even if it’s only term papers. Once the research is done and I’m ready to sit down and start typing, I do enjoy it (most of the time). When that perfect phrase hits me, I love it.

I just wish I could apply myself to the creative aspect of writing.

What activities did you engage in as a child that you wish you still did?

2

Ballet. It kept me in fabulous shape and I loved the precision of it. It appealed to my inner perfectionist.

I quit because school and work left me with little free time, and when I looked into starting again a few years ago, the only adult classes I could find had recitals at the end of the semester and I’m just not into that.

3

I used to draw a lot. I got fussed at for turning in homework assignments covered with doodles. Now I hardly ever draw anything. The ideas don’t flow anymore, and I’m too much of a perfectionist to doodle (if I could even think of anything to doodle.) It’s frustrating being that dissatisfied with something you used to be good at and really enjoy.

4

Dying Butterfly, you might want to read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain if you’re interested in drawing again but having difficulty or are dissatisfied with your drawing ability. It gets into some of the brain’s inner workings and why most people cease to draw after adolescence. There’s a lot of good info in there, and not a bad read.

Now, I was just browsing MPSIMS, and I found a thread about National Novel Writing Month, where participants try to write a 50,000 word novel from November 1-30. I’m a bit of a latecomer, but it might be a fun way to force myself back into writing, if I can find the time to do it.

5

When I was in high school, I wrote a lot of parody songs- it was the 1970s, so
subjects included Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, Jonestown :eek: , Idi Amin :eek: again, and the “legend of the Church Camp Cannibal” (a tale told to us by our
camp counselors which combined the story of Ed Gein & the plot of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). When I was in college, I just didn’t pursue it. Instead, I wrote banal religious & political poetic diatribes. I’d kinda like to get back into the parody mode again.

6

I used to do choral singing, and lovedlovedloved it. Now I just don’t feel like I have the time. It’s sad. :frowning:

7

Riding motorcycles. My dad and brothers used to do it all the time and I never really got into it. It tried it for a while and enjoyed it when I was out riding, but never really had a desire to do it when I wasn’t. Then I was riding one day, caught my toe on a root and broke my toe. Haven’t sat on one since.

More than anything I quit because I was scared of the thing. I wish I would have kept going. It was a lot of fun in retrospect.

When I was in 7th grade I ALMOST quit playing music. I can’t even imagine my life right now had my teacher not talked me out of it.

8

I miss playing rugby! I joined the high school rugby team as a freshman, and quickly discovered that it was the black sheep of our school’s athletic program. All the guys on the team were shameless drunks, stoners, brawlers, and utter badasses. I was both intimidated and in awe of these guys.

I remember it so vividly - I remember what it was like to gradually earn their respect. I wasn’t that big, and I wasn’t that fast, so I figured, I’m going to be the guy that hits like a maniac. And by God I did my best - when I open-field-tackled one of our top varsity seniors, a guy who had enlisted in the Marines, in a practice, the rest of the team officially declared him to be “my bitch.” Here I was, 15 years old, and this guy was my bitch! Of course it wasn’t really true - he still could have kicked my ass into next year if he really wanted to - but the point was that I had become part of the camradarie.

When they eventually put me in one of the varsity games, it was against Pike, which was the “tough,” “black” school and had a fearsome reputation. The first thing I did on the field was run headlong into the guy with the ball, a huge, built guy, dove straight for his knees, and threw him to the ground. Wow! I don’t think any drug I’ve ever done has given me the high I felt at that moment. Every subsequent tackle I pulled off, it made me feel like I was the most badass guy in the world. I played wing my freshman year, but as a sophomore, they put me at flanker. Yay! Less running, more hitting.

That year, the rugby team lost our affiliation with the school because of hazing incidents with some of the freshman players. We were no longer allowed to call ourselves a school team, had to practice at a public park instead of on the school field, and had to refer to ourselves as the Bloomington Men’s Rugby Club, but for some insane reason they still let us play other schools. I think the rugby officials are kind of like the rugby players - a little less strict and a little more drunk than the guys in the other sports. This time around, I started much more often, and it gave me great satisfaction to go out there and tackle guys. Every now and then I’d get the ball, and though I never scored a try, I would run like a motherfucker and break through lines of brutes twice my size. God, it was a satisfying feeling.

At the end of that season, we had a banquet and we were all supposed to go with dates. I went with the hottest girl I knew, and she showed up in an insanely sexy outfit. There we were, sitting and listening to the coach give a speech, and then all of a sudden he goes, “now I have to give an award to someone.” And it was ME! They gave me the Most Improved Player award, and that award is one of my most prized possessions to this day even though they spelled my damn name wrong on it. But that’s OK because nobody ever spells my name right.

But the next year, we got a different coach, and I was not interested in playing for him based on his personality, so my junior and senior years were spent rugby-less. There’s no way that I could play college or even intramural rugby - I haven’t lifted weights or ran in years, and I’m way too busy with work and school besides. But God, do I ever miss it!

9

Writing for no other reason than my own personal enjoyment. I’d vomit out page after page and not worry about what I actually wrote, just having a blast. These days I have an inner critic who constantly holds me to some ethereal standard of publishability.

10

Computer stuff. I was one of those kids that was writing programs at age six in 1986, connecting to BBS’s years before anyone even knew that that stuff was out there, and so on. If I had kept it up over the years, I probably could have gotten rich in the DotCom boom, or at the very least been incredibly successful in the industry through the combination of natural talent and having done it from such an early age. I knew a guy with a very similar background and childhood interest/aptitude that, at age 17, wrote a program, sold it for many millions to some big IT company and was hired by them to maintain it and update it. That could have been me. But instead, I lost all interest in it by around age 13 or so and never went back.

11

Poi spinning and group singing. I may yet get back to those, though.

12

Play guitar- I could play just about anything by ear once I heard it a few times as long as it wasn’t too complex.

Compose music- I used to compose my own tunes, jotting (musical) notes on a hand-drawn staff. If I kept at it I may have become the next Mozart (well, maybe not quite).

13

Baseball and Ultimate Frisbee.

I played Little League from age 6 to age 12 and I loved every minute of it. But when it came time to try out for the high school team I was the guy that just missed the cut and I never tried out again because next year’s class had a ton of talented baseball guys and I wouldn’t have had a chance.

I keep telling myself eventually I’ll join a softball league, but I never do.

But in high school, me and a bunch of my friends spent nearly every lunch period in the warmer months playing Ultimate Frisbee on the field. That was also great fun but I can’t seem to ever be able to gather enough people to play with now.

14

Astronomy. I wish I were a stargazer.

15

Reading. I just don’t take time to read any more, except on the Internet.

Drawing. I suck, but came up with some decent stuff.

Roaming around through the woods. There’s something soothing about it, I still miss the woods and creek from my childhood home.

16

I used to draw and cartoon all the time. I made entire comic books based on the characters I’d created.

I wish I still did that.

17

Choral singing and horseback riding. And tent camping - I don’t get to do much of it anymore. Sigh.

18

I’ve got two, although the former counts towards the latter as well as being its own long-lost youthful pursuit.

Sex, and exercise.

19

Skydiving. It somehow fell by the wayside when I was doing a part-time degree and then got married. Now I have a son, and agreed not to jump till he is 18. But still, you don’t find too many jumpers who are married to non-jumpers. Consider how hard it is to get spousal approval for a game of golf, or an evening out with friends, now think of a hobby that requires you to be away from home entire days, or even weekends. The sum of brownie points required would approach the national debt…

20

Getting high and playing video games. Fuck that was awesome. Now I have a wife and two kids. :frowning: